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A VETERINARIAN’S LIFE
The Lost Art of a Good Ending
Losing a pet
I have been a veterinarian since 1980 and practiced small animal medicine and surgery until 2017. I chose this profession because I loved animals and medicine. I recognized the importance of the human/animal bond and was committed to serving BOTH my patients. For decades, even as I had children and managed my busy household, I went to work every day feeling like I had the greatest job in the world.
But one day I woke up and could no longer deny that my world had changed. The days when people got a pet, loved a pet, lost a pet were gone forever.
Death had become an unacceptable consequence of illness or aging.
The advances in veterinary medicine had paralleled those of human medicine and animals had become a business, a BIG business. How could an owner, now faced with so many treatment options, decide what was right.
To service these advances Each clinic was now a fully equipped hospital, including x-ray, ultrasound, lab, surgery, dentistry, and pharmacy, and manned by highly educated and trained staff. Many owners struggled with the cost of care that, in a short period of time, had spiraled.
Perhaps the worst consequence was that people had lost perspective and forgotten the simple…
